Still Walking
IFC Films | Release Date: August 21, 2009 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
89
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 21 Critic Reviews
Positive:
21
Mixed:
0
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Time OutJoshua Rothkopf
We are in the presence of a new classic. Read full review
100
The A.V. ClubSam Adams
The movie seems like a perfect found object, as if it had always existed and was just waiting to be uncovered. Read full review
100
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Painful family issues are more likely to stay beneath the surface, known to everyone but not spoken of. Still Walking, a magnificent new film from Japan, is very wise about that, and very true. Read full review
100
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
This small gem of a movie always feels true and real as it gently reveals the quiet moments that define our lives. Read full review
100
San Francisco ChronicleWalter Addiego
The director has said that, though the story was inspired by the deaths of his parents, he hoped to make a film "brimming with life." He's succeeded. Read full review
100
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
Pitch-perfect and profoundly moving. Read full review
90
VarietyDennis Harvey
Its modest surface belies the depths of a lovely seriocomedy that concisely lays bare all kinds of uncomfortable dynamics in seemingly casual, low-key fashion. Read full review
90
Village VoiceAnthony Kaufman
Koreeda imbues the story with such specificity, tactility, and humanity that yet another movie about a dysfunctional family reunion becomes a cinematic tone poem. Read full review
90
NPRMark Jenkins
Quite aside from Shinto transformation parables or Buddhist reincarnation teachings, the final scene shows how family wisdom is conserved and recycled. It's a moment that might elicit a smile or a tear, or perhaps both. Read full review
90
Chicago ReaderAndrea Gronvall
Koreeda was inspired by his guilt over having neglected his own parents, and the story is remarkable for the quiet, seemingly casual way he depicts the fallout of bitterness and grief. Read full review
90
Washington PostJohn Anderson
One of the more accomplished and beautiful films released thus far this year. Read full review
88
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
The tone is perfect; this is one of those rare films that, despite being rooted firmly in the world around us, is utterly absorbing and capable of reducing the immediacies of life into abstract thoughts in the back of one's mind. Read full review
88
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe Williams
A miniaturist's masterpiece, the ebb and flow of familial love distilled to its essence. Read full review
83
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
The film pays off in the end when, almost imperceptibly, the rush of emotions it stirs in us rises to a soft crescendo. Read full review
80
The New York TimesManohla Dargis
This is life as it’s lived, not dreamed. And this is a family bound not only by sorrow, but also by a shared history that emerges in 114 calibrated minutes and ends with a wallop. Read full review
80
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
An usually insightful rendering of an ordinary family, Hirokazu Kore-eda's contemplative Japanese drama is the sort of movie that makes its greatest impact long after you've seen it. Read full review
80
EmpireDavid Parkinson
Subtle and multi-layered film-making with compelling performances. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterMaggie Lee
Kore-eda listens to his characters' inner thoughts with the attentiveness of a piano tuner, and reveals them with the lightest inferences. Read full review
75
New York PostV.A. Musetto
Koreeda, talented director that he is, never allows the story to sink into soap-opera melodrama, and he refrains from pointing fingers. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeMark Feeney
There’s nothing static about Still Walking.’ The presence of three kids sees to that, as does the eloquence of Kore-eda’s framing and compositions. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
A film of droll and dry observational precision, its emotional minimalism is almost fetishistic -- and, by the end, a tad frustrating. Read full review
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